Steve Aoki is always up for a challenge. The 40-year-old record producer, DJ and founder of independent record label Dim Mak, always does things to the extreme and his fans love him for it. He’s set several Guinness World Records for things like the most traveled musician in one year, the loudest and longest crowd cheer at a show and the most people simultaneously holding and lighting glow sticks at a show at one time.

However, for his next record-breaking attempt, he wants to be the first person to ever DJ in outer space.

“I have been begging them to please, please let me be the first DJ to play at the space station,” he said during a recent phone interview. “I’d play one song, two songs or I’d play six hours, just get me up there. I’m trying to find a way. I’ve talked to several astronauts, but I need to get a hold of (SpaceX founder) Elon Musk so I can get on a rocket with him. That’s definitely a goal.”

In early February, Aoki flew out to Frankfurt, Germany and was launched into the atmosphere via a A310 aircraft, which is used for astronaut training flights, along with a group of 20 partygoers to do a 90-minute DJ set in zero gravity.

“It was insane,” he said.

Now that he’s floated back down to the ground, he’s been out on tour in support of his latest album, “Kolony,” which dropped last summer. It’s Aoki’s forth album and his first full venture into the hip-hop genre. The record features collaborations with artists like Migos, Lil Yachty, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz and 2018 best new artist Grammy nominee, Lil Uzi Vert.

“I work with all kinds of artists from rock bands to K-pop artists to pop artists and hip-hop artists,” Aoki said. “I was doing songs with these guys anyway and this ‘Kolony’ project happened because I found a unique way to sort of produce it. Before I would just have hip-hop artists jump on EDM records, but with this, we took out the drops and we made music based on getting a vibe going and that turned into this collection of songs. We did it in different studios in Los Angeles and in Atlanta and I just realized all that I cared about was getting the magic out of people. It wasn’t about the musical drops, but about great music and really representing American culture right now as a time stamp. Right now, American youth culture is really about hip-hop and EDM and this is a reflection of what’s going on.”

Aoki, who was born in Florida and raised in Newport Beach, will bring the Kolony North American Tour to his current hometown of Los Angeles with a stop at the Shrine Expo Hall on Friday, March 9.

DJ Steve Aoki will bring his Kolony North American Tour to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Friday, March 9. (Photo by Brian Ziff)

DJ Steve Aoki will bring his Kolony North American Tour to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Friday, March 9. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, contributing photographer)

DJ Steve Aoki will bring his Kolony North American Tour to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Friday, March 9. (Photo by Brian Ziff)

DJ Steve Aoki will bring his Kolony North American Tour to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Friday, March 9. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, contributing photographer)

DJ Steve Aoki (left) and rapper Desiigner (right) will bring the Kolony North American Tour to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Friday, March 9. (Photo by Caesar Seba)

DJ Steve Aoki will bring his Kolony North American Tour to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Friday, March 9. (Photo by Casey Curry, Associated Press)

DJ Steve Aoki will bring his Kolony North American Tour to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Friday, March 9. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, contributing photographer)

DJ Steve Aoki (right) and rapper Desiigner (left) will bring the Kolony North American Tour to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Friday, March 9. (Photo by Caesar Seba)

The tour features “Panda” rapper Desiigner and special guests Grandtheft, Deorro, Max Styler and Bok Nero. The jaunt, which kicked off in Washington D.C., on Saturday, Feb. 10, has been wild, Aoki reports. He and Desiigner have gotten along swimmingly, spending time together after the shows playing “Call of Duty,” spraying champagne around their dressing rooms and smashing cakes in each other’s faces. Since Aoki has worked with just about every artist on the planet, there have also been a lot of drop-in surprise guests showing up at the gigs, making each night unique and memorable for the audience.

“You never know who is going to show up in L.A.,” Aoki teased. “I’m so stoked to bring this to the Shrine. I’ll hit up all of my friends who are in town and we’ll see who comes out. I love giving special performances and making people guess who is going to come out because you never know who I’ve worked with in a studio on a song that might just actually show up. I don’t even know most of the time. Sometimes it’s better that way, too. Thirty minutes before a show someone will tell me, ‘Oh hey, I’m going to come through.’ All right. I love that.”

While out in Atlanta last year, Aoki threw one of his L.A.-famous Dim Mak parties that turned into a mini-festival in a parking lot featuring performances by Aoki, Lil Uzi Vert and various Dim Mak artists.

“It was one of those things where next thing you know, Migos shows up and jumps on stage and then T.I. came out and 2 Chainz,” Aoki said with a laugh.

Aoki views the Kolony North American Tour as his very own Broadway production. He’s known for his big stage presence, the champagne spraying and for smashing sheet cakes into the faces of his audience, but this time, he insists, he’s taking it all to the next level.

“Hip-hop artists and EDM artists are the voices of this generation and I get to tell this story and share this experience,” he said. “‘Kolony’ is like my Broadway play. It’s my art exhibit and I get to show off all of this production that we did in the studio. Even the music videos, every single one is shot with the same exact theme, the same colors and the same thematic props, and now I get to bring all of that to the live stage and it’s so exiting.”

He’s also making people aware of his Aoki Foundation while out on the road. The foundation supports organizations in the brain science and research fields with a specific focus on regenerative medicine and brain preservation. With every ticket purchased to these shows, $1 will be directly contributed to the cause.

“The brain is the most important phenomenon in the universe,” Aoki said. “We really don’t fully understand the brain and the more funding we can put into researching the brain, we’ll be able to answer so many questions that we’ve been asking ourselves like about immortality and things like that. It’s kind of science fiction sounding, but these are very real questions, especially with people effected by Alzheimer’s or dementia, brain cancer or other degenerative diseases. Those are big killers of our race as a human species.”

Kelli Skye Fadroski lives for entertainment. She’s worked at The Orange County Register since 2006 and has covered all things music, stand-up comedy, horror and more. When she’s not out reviewing a concert or interviewing some random famous person, she’s catching up on episodes of “The Walking Dead,” somewhere sampling craft beer, enjoying Taco Tuesday or yelling at the contestants through the TV on “Celebrity Name Game” for not knowing basic pop culture trivia. She’s also a diehard Detroit Lions fan.

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